The scalar principle. An organization level consists of levels of authority arranged in a hierarchy from the Chief executive at the top and the workers at the bottom. The scalar principle holds that these levels represent gradation of distributed authority, each successive level downward representing a decreasing amount of authority, a decreasing scope of authority and often a different kind of authority.
It is essentially to the very idea and concept of organization that we there must be a process, formal in character, through which the supreme co-ordinating authority operates throughout the whole structure of the organized body. This process is not an abstraction; it is a tangible reality observable in every organization. It appears in a form so distinct and characteristic that it practically names itself, — hence the term Scalar Process.
The scalar process is the same form in organization which is sometimes called hierarchical. But in order to avoid all definitional ambiguities the term scalar is much to be preferred. A scale means a series of steps; hence, something graduated.
Mooney and Reiley were concerned with certain universal principles and contributed four principles of organization, namely, the coordinative principle, the scalar principle, the functional principle, and staff-line principle.
Scalar Principle ; It is also referred as 'chain of command' or 'scalar chain of command' or 'line or authority.'
Scalar principle: pyramid shape of an organization designed to control employees through a cascading network of of superiors and subordinates.